US Cannot Brag About Infant Mortality Rate

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), an in-house research operation for Congress, recently released a report, The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate: International Comparisons, Underlying Factors, and Federal Programs, focused on U.S. infant mortality rates (IMR) and specifically looking at differences in relation to income and race. CRS takes issues and analyzes them to provide policymakers options for addressing issues via legislation. The intent of this report is to look at policy options for dealing with low birth weight and prematurity -- two primary maternal health issues of interest to members of Congress largely because of the costs associated with both. Infant mortality refers to deaths that occur during infancy, defined as the first year of life.

The report looks at changes in health status and lifestyle that affect infant mortality, addressing weight gain as a lead factor associated with gestational diabetes and hypertension. It also looks at insurance access, socioeconomic challenges, and education/health literacy challenges.

Pregnancy-associated (preeclampsia) and chronic hypertension, for instance, have increased an average of 1% every year since 1990. These conditions are associated with greater risk of pregnancy complications and adverse outcomes.

Top health issues and health behaviors that raised infant death rate:

Inappropriate weight gain during pregnancy (too much or too little)

Tobacco use

Gestational diabetes

Hypertension

Lack of prenatal care

Delayed prenatal care (after 1st trimester)

Lack of breastfeeding

Short duration between pregnancies (less than 6 months)

In summary, the report shows higher rates of mortality within the African American community (particularly in southern states). Specifically, the IMR for infants born to black mothers was 12.7, compared to the white IMR of 5.5. But even the lower death rate for white babies is still higher than most European countries and other English-speaking countries, suggesting that eliminating racial disparities would likely lower the US IMR, but would not go far enough.

The report especially focuses on low birth weight and short gestational age, the second leading cause of infant deaths behind congenital malformations. Low birth weight is defined as infants born at less than 2,500 grams (i.e., less than 5.5 lbs) and short gestational age is defined as infants born prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation.

Number 4 on the list of causes is newborn deaths affected by maternal complications of pregnancy. Based on the large number of ways that babies are impacted by a mother's preeclampsia, it's hard to calculate how many deaths can be attributed to preeclampsia. It is certainly a significant number of the approximate 28,000 reported infant deaths each year.

I'm sure we'll hear more about this as we spend time in Point Clear, Alabama, site of this year's Saving Grace dinner gala. The Southeastern part of the nation has a higher incidence of infant deaths (see chart), most likely mirroring a higher incidence of preeclampsia. Through our partnership with University of South Alabama's Women & Children's Hospital, home to the area's only Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), we'll hear about many families whose stories reflect this report's statistics, as well as families whose babies were saved and thrived under the care of this NICU's expert staff.

Otros Recursos

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Privacy Policy

Normal web site usageThe Preeclampsia Foundation has a firm commitment to Internet privacy. You can visit most portions of preeclampsia.org without telling us who you are and without revealing any personal information. The only information we collect from a normal web site visit is the name of your Internet Service Provider, the browser and type of machine you are using, the web site that referred you to us, the pages you request and the date and time you request them. We use this information to generate statistics and measure site activity to improve the usefulness of the site to our visitors.

Collection of personally identifiable informationThe Preeclampsia Foundation may collect names, email addresses and other personally identifiable data about visitors when such data is voluntarily submitted to preeclampsia.org. For example, our site uses forms for visitors to register or make a donation online. Contact information from these forms is used to send information about preeclampsia or Foundation activity to our visitors. Financial information is used to bill or provide receipts to visitors in connection with their donations. To ensure the security of credit card and personal information, this Web site employs industry-standard security methods, including the Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol for the encryption of transmitted data. The Preeclampsia Foundation goes to great lengths to protect the confidentiality and integrity of any personal information you share with us over the Internet. In instances where we may partner with medical organizations to conduct research on preeclampsia, your participation may be expressly requested, but your permission would be required prior to sharing personally identifiable data with authorized medical organizations.

The Preeclampsia Foundation makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive user information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies.

Donor Privacy PolicyThe Preeclampsia Foundation does not sell or otherwise disclose user information outside the organization. We will not sell, trade or share a donor's personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations.

Should you wish to review or make corrections to your personal information, please click Login/Join at the top of the page and enter your login information. A page titled "Edit Your Details" will appear in the main body of the page where you can view and make corrections. If you wish to be removed entirely from our database, please email info@preeclampsia.org.

CookiesWe do not use cookies on the majority of our website pages. The donate pages do use "per session" cookies. Per session cookies last only for the life of your current browser load and use no permanent storage on your hard drive. The use of per session cookies is very common in modern Web sites.